Manufacture of hats



U 1ED-.. TA I PATENT, OF E LEWIS nnnm nnmn, swims Erin, new scorn WALES, A S R IA. I

No Drawing.

To all whom-it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwrs Harman, J r., a subject of the King of Great Brltaln and Ireland, residing at 43 Smith street, Summer Hill, in the State of New South Wales Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hats, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this inventlon 1s to impart to hats made of woolen or othersoft material the body, resilience and resistance of felt and at the same time render the material completely damp-resistant.

To accomplish this purpose I prepare 1n the manner herein described, a foundation designed to lie between the lining and the covering forming the hat material.

I make a solution consisting of sugar of lead, alum, and water, in or about the proportion of two (2), one (1) and ten (l0) respectively, and in this I immerse a piece of cotton fabric, preferably flannelette 36 inches in length and 30 inches in width. After the material has been thoroughly soaked it is hung up so as to drain off slowly the surplus moisture and allowed tobecome thoroughly dry. I then immerse it in a second solution consisting of from one. (1) ounce to two and a half (2}) ounces of shellac dissolved in from a half (4,) pint to two and a half (2%) pints of wood-spirit or some other solvent spirit and again allow the material to become thoroughly dry.

The necessity for allowing so wide a margin in the quantities of the materials composing the second solution arises first from the fact that there will be considerable difference in the weights and ualities of the fabric to be treated and secon 1y that widely divergent degrees of rigidity will need to be obtained in accordance with the different class of hats in which the material will be used. The one constant condition is that the solution should be sufiicient to thoroughly impregnate and moisten the whole of the fabric but not sufficient to allow of any of the solution to drip away when lifted from the soaking vat. It is also of prime imortance that the fabric when drying should be placed on a horizontal screen, as if hung out in a vertical position the solution woul gravitate toward the lower edge with the result of a final inequality in the distribution of the shellac.

If it is desired to produce a kind as m ANUrAcrunEorirA'rs.

Specification of l 'ietters Patent;

y y .P atented may 24,1921.

Ap plication filed mt so, 1919. serial no. 307.847."

distinguished from tinny feel to th c material, in other words to lncrease its flexibility, I add ninety (90) minims of vegetable oil to the second solution. It would be possible to mix the whole of the ingredients of the two solutions and subject the fabric to a single impregnation but I have found the result unsatisfactory.

When this process has been completed the material will have become absolutely dampresistant and will have acquired a sufficient degree of rigidity to impart to the hat, of which it becomes the foundation, the required resilience and body.

I am aware that many stiffening materials have been used for this purpose but none of them being entirely damp-proof, once the hat in which they are used gets wet, it becomes soft and flaccid and loses the resiliency which causes it to regain and retain its shape and set.

In making up the hat material my foundation may be secured between the lining and covering either by quilting or dr heating and blocking or by any of the ordinary trade processes.

In the event of a hat being quilted the needle erforations in all known productions a mit the damp, but foundation material manufacture by my method contains a plastic element which under any blocking process will fill up the needle perforations and maintain the water-proof characteristic of the foundation.

I do not confine myself absolutely to the quantities or proportions of the materials used in forming my solutions but those specified I have found after experiments to give the best results. It is possible also that certain chemical equivalents may be found to give similar results. It may be found advisable under certain circumstances to pass the foundation material between rollers for the purpose of more evenly distributing the elastic material formed by the second solution when dry or partially dried out.

By means of this method of treatment I am enabled to produce a foundation material which will impart to a hat formed of tweed or other relatively inexpensive materials all the quantities of an expensive felt.

It is obvious also that my foundation material may be found highly suitable for other purposes besides the manufacture of hats as it will doubtless provide a cheap and efiicient stifi'ening for mens coats and portions ofwomens dresses; and also for boot linings, but its principal use Will be for the purposset'forth;

What I claim and desire t9 secure Letters Patent is V l V 1. In the manufacture of hats, a foundation material consisting of a fabrie,treated in sequence with a solution of, sugar of lead,

alum and Water and of shellae and WQOd 10.; spirit.

lution of sugar of lead, alum and Water, and

subsequently With another of Wood spirit 15 and shellac.

Signed'at Sydney, N. S. W., this'second dayofJune, 1919. I

. 7 LEWIS HERMAN, J R. 

